Sunflower Squares

Sunflower Squares. This 35% rye / 65% wheat loaf is naturally fermented by "sourpuss", my rye sourdough and chock full of toasted sunflower seeds. What I am most excited to share with you are two flavor enhancing inclusions that elevate these loaves to another level.

The first is "brotaroma", which is rehydrated rye rusks made from extra bread. You can make these easily by cutting a few slices of old rye bread and toasting them. After they are cooled and staled, process them into breadcrumbs and store in an airtight container. I rehydrate them with boiling water at a 1:2 ratio (toasted bread crumb to water), generally at less than 5% of the flour weight. This is a great way to reduce waste while adding a magical toasty note to your bread.

The second is scalded flour. When pouring just under boiling temp water over flour, the amylase enzymes are isolated. This means that the temperature of the flour-water mixture is hot enough to kill off the naturally present yeast in the flour, but not hot enough to kill off the naturally occurring amylase enzymes. This allows the amylase enzymes to go about their work of breaking down starches into sugars, without the subsequent step of the sugars being metabolized by yeast. In other words, the flour-water mixture becomes naturally sweet over time and, when incorporated into the dough, contributes a naturally malted flavor to your bread.